wordpress

Are You Using Adsense Mobile Content Ad Unit ?

Many people overlook the possibility of earning via Adsense Mobile Content Ad. My blogs and websites are not directly related to mobile contents – like mobile games, application software, mobile wallpaper, ring tones etc, so I felt like monetizing for mobile/tablet devices will not be fruitful.

After a long time, to give it a try – I added one Adsense Mobile Content Ad Unit on my blog. And to my surprise, there are so many people visiting our blogs via cell phones and tablet pc’s.

Here is how I inserted Adsense Mobile Content Ad Unit into my WordPress blog.
Log into your adsense account.
Goto My Ads tab – Mobile Content – Create New Ad Unit – Get the ad code
Log into your WordPress blog. Install plugin called PHP Text Widget.
Under Appearance – Widgets, drag a new text widget and paste the adsense mobile content ad code and save it.

No Ads?
1. As usual, new adsense ad unit won’t show on your pages. Wait for 10 min and then test your pages by visiting from a smart phone or a tablet PC.
2. Adsense Mobile Ad Unit doesn’t show on implemented pages every single time. It only show ads on relevant pages and to relevant users.

Report
To check if your Mobile Content Ad Unit is actually working: visit your adsense account dashboard and look at the reports after some time.

Note: Only 1 ad unit per page is allowed. And the ad unit needs to be placed at the end of the page.

How To Migrate From Stand-alone bbPress to bbPress plugin

Hope you know about the latest buzz in the WordPress world!! They have released the stable version of bbpress WordPress plugin to the general public and it is called bbpress 2.0

The main advantage is, you do not have to worry about the WordPress integration anymore, because it’s now an extension of WordPress and it integrates with WordPress seamlessly.

What if you were using stand-alone versions of bbpress so far and now want to switch to the latest bbpress plugin without losing your valuable content.

There is a easy way to do this.

Goto WordPress Plugin Directory, download bbpress plugin and install it, as you install any other normal plugin.

Now inside your WordPress dashboard, under Tools, click on Import.
Now click on bbPress Standalone(Import your bbPress standalone board.)

Make sure to backup everything before proceeding further.

Now give the path to bb-config.php file of your old installation. and hit proceed.

Once the process is completed, you can check it by renaming the old forum installation folder to something else and check working of new forum by visiting yourdomainname.com/forums/

NYTimes Style Slider: Next Post WordPress Plugin

You might have seen NYTimes and even some blogs have incorporated a cool animated Fadin/Fadout or Flyout style of showing next post, once user scrolls down the article. Its light-weight and looks cool.
There is a WordPress plugin called upPrev: NYTimes Style “Next Post” Animated Button, which lets us add this cool little feature to our blog, within 2 or 3 clicks of the button. Just drop the plugin into plugins folder and activate it from the WordPress dashboard.

There is little to no configuration needed. You can set the style of animation: Fadin/Fadout or Flyout style. We are using Flyout style on this blog. Scroll till the end of the article and you will see a small window popping with a Flyout effect.

You can set the appearance of this window depending on the user scroll action, by mentioning the class name or the id name within your WordPress theme.

For example, in our theme we have a class by name otherstuff at the end of each article. So when user scrolls till this class element, this window will Fadin. When user scrolls up above otherstuff class element, the window automatically fadsout.

Just like the NYTimes button, upPrev allows WordPress site admins to provide the same functionality for their readers. When a reader scrolls to the bottom of a single post, a button animates in the page’s bottom right corner, allowing the reader to select the next available post in the single post’s category (the category is also clickable to access an archive page). If no next post exists, no button is displayed.

Right click and see your blog/website source code and get the class name or id name and use it to set this plugin. Make sure to put # “hash” before the ID name, or . “dot” before a class name.

Usually comment section will have id name as #comment or class name as .comment

8 Best WordPress Caching Plugins

This is a guest post by Kip. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

Slow page loads cause visitors to leave your site and go somewhere else, leaving you without sales and without subscribers. Slow page loads can also prompt Google to downgrade your page rank, causing you even more lost revenue. WordPress pages can be slow because of the large number of files and database calls the system must process while the visitor waits to see it. By saving these dynamic pages as static HTML after they are viewed, subsequent page views are served much faster. Fortunately, adding caching to WordPress is as easy as adding a couple files to your server. Here are the 8 best WordPress caching plugins you can use to make your Web site more responsive and profitable.

1. WP-Cache is one of the first WordPress cache solutions ever to be created. With this plugin installed, WordPress can serve up hundreds more pages per second. This reduced server load accommodates hundreds or even thousands more visitors to your blog without any noticeable performance degradation. Although this is not the fastest cache plugin, it remains one of the most popular.

2. WP Super Cache uses three methods to cache data (Mod_Rewrite, PHP, and Legacy Caching) to make your content display quickly to your visitors even when your server is under a heavy load. With its recommended settings, WP_Super Cache will compress pages and cache PHP code while serving original pages to known users. The makers of the plug-in say that 99% of your visitors will see static pages, suggesting that search engines and visitors will all have a good experience on your site.

3. DB Cache is a WordPress plugin that professes to speed WordPress beyond traditional HTML caching to make it the fastest cache solution that is available. With DB Cache installed your WordPress cache takes less space and your server deals with a lighter load than with other cache plugins.

4. WP Widget Cache will cache WordPress widgets to make your blog go even faster than it does with a page cache only This is especially important for bloggers who have an above average number of widgets in use. Since widgets are found on most pages, this plugin can speed up every page (including unpopular pages) so users and search engines will have positive feelings about your blog.

5. Hyper Cache is a WordPress cache pluigin designed for installations on minimal hosting providers. This is important because the average low resource Web host doesn’t have the space and the horsepower to support a full blown hosting solution. This plugin serves cached pages without any database access and minimizes cached storage space to so that even low-end packages can host speedy WordPress blogs.

6. DB Cache Reloaded is a WordPress cache plugin that branched off of the original DB Cache after the original author didn’t promptly update the plugin for newer WordPress versions. This cache will work with the most recent versions of WordPress.

7. 1 Blog Cacher is an ultra lightweight cache that is gaining in popularity even though virtually all of its configuration options are set in a single PHP file. This is an HTML cache, meaning that dynamic pages are saved as HTML for future visitors. Because of its low profile, this plugin caches only GET requests on the server. The plugin also supports the ability to define the length of time before pages expire.

8. W3 Total Cache Is billed as one of the most robust caching plugins available. It offers impressive speed gains “out of box” with plenty of options to tweak it for your particular preferences. Several options for caching for pages and databases, minifying, and content delivery networks makes this an attractive option for experienced bloggers.

Try one or more of the 8 best WordPress caching plugins listed here to improve your page loading speeds. Your effort will be rewarded with more satisfied customers, better search engine ranking, and a bigger bottom line.

Kip is a tech writer for BroadbandCompare.com.au, an Australian website where you can compare broadband plans and deals from the best broadband providers.

10 Tips for Finding the WordPress Theme That’s Right For You

This is a guest post by James Adams. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

Everybody knows that WordPress is extremely versatile. There are themes available for nearly every mood or whim and new ones are being added every day. When you’re ready to start blogging for yourself, how do you find a theme that will suit your needs? Here are some tips and questions to help you find the right WordPress theme for you.

1. Be aware of your purpose – To choose the best theme for your blog, you need to know what you are going to be using it for. Are you wanting to monetize it? Do you want to throw pay per click out the window and just write for fun?

2. Take a look at others, part 1 – Find the blogs that appeal to you and write the themes down. This first sweep looks specifically at form, rather than function. Write down the five styles that most appeal to you, then go to the next step.

3. Take a look at others, part 2 – There are two parts to any blog: form and function. Search around a little more to see if there are blogs that have the functionality that you want. Will the theme support the widgets that you want? Does it have the coding that you love already in place? Write down around five styles.

4. Do you need to learn a programming language? – Some WordPress styles are more technically intensive than others. Do you have the expertise to install the widgets, or would you prefer a ‘drag and drop’ sort of approach? Are you willing to learn new techniques? This is an important factor when selecting a WordPress theme.

5. Do you need to pay for it? – You might have found the theme of your dreams, but does it cost money? If you are plotting out a straight blog, do you need to have a custom theme available? Themes come in a variety of price ranges and you must be prepared to pay if you like one of the premium set ups.

6. Can you grow with your theme? – Are you satisfied with the WordPress theme enough that you’re itching to put all of your material into it? Can you grow with this theme? More importantly, are you willing to put a whole lot of work into the theme that you’ve chosen? If not, you may wish to choose something else.

7. Is there after sales support? – Does the company supplying the theme offer support in case something goes wrong? If they don’t, are you willing to search hither and yon for someone who can answer your questions? Adequate technical support is essential.

8. Does it upgrade regularly? – Are you going to be left in the dust at each new WordPress upgrade? Can your theme grow with you, or are you going to be left behind? Learn about this before you commit to the theme, because it will save some issues later on.

9. Read some reviews – Once you have answered your questions in terms of the theme that you wish to use, investigate to see if there are any reviews posted. If you can’t find any reviews, ask the people that have your potential theme on their site and see how they feel about it.

10. Give it a test run – All the preparation in the world is not a replacement for giving your theme a shot and seeing how it works. Kick the tires, put some comments in, play with the widgets. If you have to pay for your theme, see if the company will let you have a free trial.

Nothing can beat good content, but a great WordPress theme will make it easier on your readers and potentially attract new ones. It’s like finding the right partner, you’ll know it when you’ve found the right WordPress theme.
Image Source: flickr

This is a guest article from James Adams at Cartridge Save where he reviews merchandise like HP 350 ink to help customers make a more informed buying decision.

The Ideal way: Migrating from Blogger to WordPress

Many people start the blog on a free blogging platform like blogger and WordPress. And after 6 months or 1 or 2 years time, if the person keeps on blogging, then he is almost certain to start feeling that he did a mistake! Mistake of starting the blog on a free blogging platform.

But do not think it as a mistake anymore. While starting a self hosted blog is a smart idea, but we know the fact that many blogs die within 1 to 6 months, so its good to start a blog on these blogging platform and invest some time to figure out whether blogging is for you or not. And it will be a good thing to learn the most basic things using those blogging platforms and then move or start a new self hosted blog.

Many people may advice to have a self hosted blog from day one, and we respect that idea too. If you can dedicate more time to learn and if you are commented enough for your blog and blogging, then either way you can start your blog.

Installing a self hosted WordPress is very easy and only takes minutes.

If you have a blog at blogger and want to transfer to your own self hosted WordPress blog, then here is a resource which will help you through the process.

For the text version of this tutorial you can follow this link labnol.org
And to be on safer side, do not forget to tell Google that you are moving your blog, at webmasters tool.

What You Need To Know | Matt Cutts WordCamp San Francisco 2009

This is a video + presentation from Matt Cutts at WordCamp San Francisco 2009.
Matt Cutts is the head of the webspam team at Google where he specializes in search engine optimization (SEO) issues.
Matt Cutts blog is a number one source for many webmasters and SEO guys. Hope

This is a video + presentation from Matt Cutts at WordCamp San Francisco 2009.

Matt Cutts is the head of the webspam team at Google where he specializes in search engine optimization (SEO) issues.
Video:

Please refresh and wait, until the video loads..
Presentation:

Matt Cutts blog is a number one source for many webmasters and SEO guys. Hope this video and presentation from Matt helps.

Source:Mutt Cutts blog

Setup your blog/website in minutes: Install WordPress

WordPress is a free and open source blog publishing application and content management system. We can build a website and take it live in a matter of minutes. WordPress has made all the process so easy. Its simple interface and huge developer community adds to its beauty.

Both automatic and manual installation methods has been explained in this post. You can directly scroll down and follow the one that suits your requirement.

Many people have asked me about setting up a blog. They think that, they do not have any programing knowledge, so they can’t build and maintain a blog. That was right some years ago, but with WordPress its all made easy, to setup and maintain. I think, having just a bit of common sense is enough to setup and maintain a website/blog, that is powered by WordPress.

Many newbies get confused with wordpress.com and wordpress.org.

WordPress.org: is a place where you can download latest version of the software and install it on to your server (read on to know how to install it). So at first place, you must have purchased a web hosting account with FTP, database access or cpanel with Fantastico [Don’t worry of these terms now, you can contact us for any suggestion on choosing a hosting provider].
We recommend using Doreo Host, for its reliability and customers care.

WordPress.com: However easy-to-use is the open source package, there is still a barrier in that, it requires a hosting account, a database, FTP, etc making normal people like you and me dizzy. To bring the WordPress experience to a larger audience Automattic (company which owns WordPress.com) created WordPress.com, a hosted version of the open source package where you can start a blog in seconds without any technical knowledge.
But the main dis-advantage for many people is that, you will not get a personal URL. You need to compromise with the http://www.yourwebsitename.wordpress.com and you can not put ads on your hosted blog/website. And more importantly, you can not get 100% control over your blog/website.

Using the open source WordPress software, you can create a static as well as dynamic website using WordPress. We have seen college websites, company sites, government websites to popular blogs built using WordPress.

There is yet another WordPress software called WordPressMU, for multi-author blogs and we will talk about it in some other posts.

So self hosted WordPress is the way to go. And we are here to help you with the installation process.

So here is how you install WordPress:

Automatic Installation of WordPress, through cpanel of your web-hosting a/c

I. Fantastico: If you have cpanel, log into it. And see the Software/services section, for Fantastico De Luxe or simply Fantastico. Click on it.

Next see for the link to WordPress installation in the sidebar, click on it.

Click on the New Installation.
Fantastico-new-installation

Install in directory, Leave empty to install in the root directory of the domain
(access example: http://yourdomainname.com).
Enter only the directory name to install in a directory
(for http://yourdomainname.com/foldername Enter flodername only in the install in directory field). This directory SHOULD NOT exist, it will be automatically created.

Click on Install WordPress, to get the details of the automatically created database. And the directory where you have chosen to install WordPress. We recommend you to install your blog in the root, if you’re main focus is on the blog.

Notedown the username and the password for logging into your WordPress admin area. You can even save this details in your email.

If you have installed WordPress in the root directory, then your blog will be accessible at http://yourblogurl.com or if you have installed it in a folder by name blog, then your blog is accessible at http://yourblogurl.com/blog. You can log into your WordPress admin area at http://yourblogurl.com/wp-admin or http://yourblogurl.com/blog/wp-admin depending upon your installation.

Manual installation of WordPress:

II. Through FTP:
1. Download and unzip the latest WordPress package, if you haven’t already.
2. Create a database for WordPress on your web server, as well as a MySQL user who has all privileges for accessing and modifying it.
Log into your cpanel (Ex: http://yoursitename.com/cpanel ) and click on the “MySql Wizard” in Databases section.

Enter any name for your new database:

Create a new user for the database. Chose a strong password.

Now assign all the privileges to the newly created user. Click on ALL PRIVILEGES. Note down the username and the database name provided at this point.

That’s it, your new database is ready.
user-database-name

3. Rename the wp-config-sample.php file to wp-config.php, in the downloaded WordPress package.

4. Open wp-config.php in your favorite text editor and fill in your database details that you noted down while creating the database(in step 2).

Replace the underlined info with your database name, database user name and database password(that you previously noted down).
Leave the ‘localhost’ as it is. Most of the time, it will be localhost itself.

5. Go to https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/ to generate secret-key. Now replace the “Put Your Unique Phrase Here” in the wp-config.php with the one generated at
https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/ (Each time your installation fails or you want to reinstall, you need to generate new secret key).

6. Save wp-config.php and upload all the unzipped WordPress files to either root directory or the directory of your choice.

7. Now open your web browser, and visit http://yourwebsitename.com/wp-admin/install.php (if installed in root directory) or http://yourwebsitename.com/foldername/wp-admin/install.php (if installed in foldername folder).

8. Follow the simple steps, enter your blog name, URL and email ID etc and complete the installation.

9. Log into http://yourwebsitename.com/wp-admin/ or http://example.com/foldername/wp-admin/ for your WordPress admin area.

10. You are done! Congrats. Play around for some time or some days to get used to WordPress. You may feel uncomfortable in the beginning, but it will be walk in the breeze experience, after you are used to it.

III. You can always send a support ticket to your hosting company and most of the time, they can help you with this.

IV. We can help you install it.

If you do not have cpanel and hence fantastico and you even do not have the FTP with your hosting account, then you must think of moving your website or blog to some other good web hosting provider.